Don't Run Away
by TheLonelyWriter13
Summary: Annabeth finds out Nico's secret and tries to help him with fitting in. But will she succeed in that? Now rated T, just to make sure. Enjoy it!
1. Prologue

Nico DiAngelo wasn't happy. He hated the world he's been in, he hated some people around him, and most definitely, he hated Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson was the main reason why Nico was so upset. He was the reason why he had to run away. He was also the reason why he couldn't trust anyone, including himself.

The war was over. Both of the camps were celebrating and Nico? Well, he was just sitting from a distance and watching. Everyone looked extremely happy. They were laughing, some of them were cheering. They were celebrating the seven. He saw many familiar faces, but his dark eyes were only locked at one of them. Nico stared at him for a while, so he didn't see the person coming towards him.

"Mind if I sit?" a girl voice asked. He turned to her. It was Annabeth. He nodded, but he simply wished her to disappear. She sat.

"Why are you sitting here?" she asked. Nico turned his head to somewhere else, she was only making him worse. "I don't like to celebrate," he said quietly. She sat closer. "I mean, why are you sitting here alone, why don't you join us?" she asked. He turned to her. "Because I'm not a part of _you_," he said.

"Why do you think that?" she asked. "We all love you Nico, you're the one who's running away!" He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Oh come on!" he said. "I know that I'm a freak, I do know I don't belong here! I'm _different_. I don't belong to anywhere! You don't have to act like I'm not! I can see the fear in their eyes!" He sat again, with tears in his eyes. "I'm not one of you," he whispered. He felt Annabeth's hand on his shoulder.

"You can't say that you don't belong here unless you try to fit in," she said. "Go ahead and try it, you'll see that we're going to accept you!" Nico shook her hand off from his shoulder. "I don't like being touched. Don't touch me," he said. Annabeth stood up. "Just saying," she said. "If you don't dare to try, you won't know." Then she walked away.

Nico sat there for a while. She didn't know what was wrong with him. She had no idea of how cruel were the gods. She didn't know him at all. But she had gave him an advice, and that made Nico wonder. Why did she even tried to help?

Annabeth walked back to the party, and found Jason. "I talked to him just like you said. Now can you tell me what is going on?"

"Nico is just a good kid," he said. "He thinks that none of us like him, and he also thinks that he is, well, a freak. I told him that he could fit in anytime, but he didn't believe in me. I just wanted him to hear that from another point of view."

"But… Why me?" she asked. "It was a random choice," Jason said but his voice was slightly changed. "Okay…" she said and walked away. She soon forgot all of her thoughts and joined the party.

That night, when Annabeth exited the party, she heard some voices coming from cabin thirteen and couldn't help but eavesdrop. It was Jason and Nico.

"I just want to be normal," Nico said. "But it's impossible- not when I have this unnatural thing."

"We all are ourselves with everything we have Nico, this is not unnatural. You're normal. You don't have to pressure yourself," Jason replied. He sounded calm. _What are the talking about?_ Annabeth thought.

"It's not normal Jason, look around you! None of you have that, and it _is_ unnatural! I am a freak!"

"Don't talk about yourself like that Nico, it's not something you can control! You are just like this! It's okay to be like this!" Annabeth became more curious.

"But how can I fit in when there is him standing there? I _hate _him. I _hate_ him for giving me all these feelings! It's not okay, it'll never be okay! It wasn't okay back then, and it is still not!" _Him?_ Annabeth thought. _Is Nico…_ Her thoughts were confirmed by the next things Jason said.

"He'll always be there. Your feelings are not awful, don't think like that! It's okay to be human sometimes Nico, it's okay to make mistake, fall in love, have actual feelings! You can't run away from it! You can't live your life when you're acting like a shadow."

Annabeth walked away. It all made perfect sense. She did not know who Nico loved, but when you put that piece, the puzzle was complete. She wasn't going to tell anyone of course, but she also wouldn't let Nico run away. She was going to make him believe that he could fit in.

And she also was going to make everyone else believe and trust in him.


	2. The Morning

It was the first day of Annabeth's top secret project: Fitting Nico di Angelo in. Annabeth had thought about it all night long. She hadn't slept, but she was hyper. She'd made her plan extremely neatly, and if it worked, Nico di Angelo wouldn't feel so alone.

Nico used to creep Annabeth. But now she was just feeling sorry and awful because she'd judged him. Everyone did. So, one of the steps that was in Annabeth's plan was to convince people that Nico was actually a nice boy- without telling his sexual preferences. But it was the easy part, the hardest one was the first step: Convincing Nico that people weren't as bad as he thought- without showing him that she knew about him.

When the two camps united, Mr D, Chiron, Reyna and Frank had made a decision: Mixing the meal tables. By this way, everyone could get to know each other and socialize, not just people who have lots of siblings. Annabeth was happy about this decision, it made her plan much, much easier. She saw the table which all of her friends were sitting, and walked to there.

"Good morning guys!" she said cheerfully. "Morning!" everyone replied- except Jason. He continued playing with his meal while staring at the huge crack on the floor. "Morning," he murmured, but his mind was clearly at something else- probably the thing Annabeth had found out the day before. She sat next to Piper._ The seven is united again,_ she thought. There was an empty seat which Annabeth wanted to fill with someone.

"I don't know what's going on with him," Piper whispered to Annabeth nervously. "But since the war finished, he disappears in evenings, and he's been thoughtful lately." Her eyes were opened widely. "What should I do?" she asked to Annabeth.

"He'll be fine, just give him some rest," she answered. "The thing he's been thinking about, it'll be solved eventually, won't it? Don't worry." She looked at Jason. He looked like he hadn't slept either.

"So guys," Annabeth started. "What are we doing today?" All of the campers were given some time of due to the victory and getting used to the new (Roman) campers. "I don't know," Percy replied with a mouth full of blue waffles. "Maybe we can give these two" - he shoved Frank and Hazel- "a little camp tour."

"My brother has already shoved me the camp," Hazel said. "But I also remember you telling me that he hadn't showed everywhere," Frank added. They smiled at each other. "Fine then, camp tour is our first thing to do." Percy said.

Annabeth was nearly about to forget Nico, but then, she saw him sitting in one of the corner tables alone. He was as pale as usual, he looked like he hadn't slept at all and his nose was red. _Has he cried?_ Annabeth wondered.

Nico di Angelo was as depressed as usual, but this time, it was different. He'd been through a lot. Nico has been in two wars which _he_ was controlling, he'd been to Tartarus and back before _he_ and _his girlfriend_ had been, and he was now feeling like he was something that gods just left to die alone. He sniffed, and felt like he was going to cry again. But his tears were gone. He was drowning in his own thoughts, so he didn't see the girl that was coming to him- wait, hadn't that happened before? Deja vu, isn't it?

"Nico," the girl said softly. "Are you alright?" Nico turned to the voice, it was _her_ again. Gods, what was wrong with that girl, seriously? "I'm okay," he said. "We're going to tour Hazel and Frank. Do you want to join?" she asked. Her grey eyes were sparkling. "No, thank you," he said politely. _No, thank you, I don't want to be anywhere with you and your boyfriend, especially him, _he thought.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Annabeth said. "To you," Nico added. "It'll be fun to you. You shine when you speak. Everyone in your friend group shine when they speak. I'm the guy in the shadows."

"If you refuse to hide in the shadow and try to escape from the bubble that isolates you, I'm sure you'll be able to shine," Annabeth said. "Look Nico, some people just need to try a little more. You're one of them." She shoved the seven excluding herself with her hand. They were still eating. "These people are my friends. They'll accept you. They want to be your friend. _I_ want to be your friend. So please, can you try?" Nico frowned. Annabeth sighed.

"Give me two weeks then, two weeks to convince you that they're great friends and they're willing to accept you. If you still don't like them after two weeks, I sweat to the River Styx that I'll leave you alone. I'll let you run away. But you have to promise one thing to me."

"What is it?" Nico asked.

"You have to promise that you won't judge them. You are going to try. Because if someone judges another person, they can get the complete wrong idea," Annabeth said. "Promise?" Nico stood up.

"Fine, I swear on the River Styx that I won't judge and try. Now can we please get started?"


	3. Day One: The Day

Nico knew the next two weeks would be the hardest, slowest time he's ever had in his entire life. How? Because he'd just given Annabeth Chase the worst promise ever.

The time between walking to that table was already awful. _No judging,_ he thought. "Hey guys! Guess whom I brought here?" Annabeth said. Her smile looked a little forced, but Nico was pretty sure that nobody but him realized it. "Hi Nico!" said Hazel. "Will you be joining us?"

"I- I… um…" Annabeth looked at him with an encouraging smile. Great. The promise he gave was only getting worse. "I will, in fact," he managed to say, trying hard not to look at somebody's sea green eyes. "Great!" Percy Jackson said, he stood up after seeing that everyone had finished their meals. He turned his beautiful sea green eyes that Nico had been trying to avoid to him and smiled. _Don't judge…_ Nico thought. _It's just a smile, you have to be kind…_ He forced a smile, but only a weak one came out. He looked at Jason, who looked like he hadn't slept, and felt bad. The reason Jason was like that was probably Nico. Jason turned his eyes on Nico. He smiled a little bit, Nico guessed it was because of him trying to fit in. _By Annabeth's force._ "Come on!" Frank said. "What are we waiting for?" They laughed and all stood up.

Nico walked to that crack on the floor, pretty embarrassed, and remembered what happened there. He frowned with shame. He tried to stop it, and surprisingly, he managed to do it.

"Our tour starts here," he said. The others were looking at him. "This thing here," -he showed the crack- "is _the crack I left on the floor_." Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper, Jason… Everyone except _him_ and _his girlfriend _looked shocked. They were of course, people were always shocked and afraid when it came to him.

"Wait a sec- dude, are you trying to tell us that _you _opened that huge thing on the floor?" Leo asked, opening his eyes widely. Nico nodded, he was trying really hard to show none of the emotions he had inside.

"Why?" Piper asked. "To save himself and me," Percy said. "It was a cold day…" _Aand he started telling the story._ Percy Jackson, stealing Nico's place once again, finished the story. Nico remembered the time, and the feelings he had… He started to feel awful. He frowned and tried to swallow the thing in his throat. _You cannot cry,_ he ordered himself. _You must not cry in front of all these people… In front of him._ He looked to the floor, hearing the voice of Percy and he tortured himself with listening the story for the millionth time.

Jason, on the other hand, was having the confusion about listening the story from someone else's point of view. He'd been in Nico's, and now listening to The Percy Version, he could understand the story fully and came to a conclusion. Nico di Angelo was an extremely strong boy. Jason knew he'd been through a lot, Jason _felt_ he'd been through a lot, but this thing, that story which started everything, was _too much_ for a ten- year- old kid.

Great, now Jason was sad for Nico, which was the last thing he wanted to feel about him. Nico was a strong hero, and he needed acceptance, not somebody patting on his shoulder, stroking his hair and saying _It's gonna be all right._ Jason tried to break through his thoughts, and looked at Nico. He was frowning as usual, but it was something else this time. There was no pain in his face, or his eyes weren't yelling "_I hate you! I wish you were dead!" _No. There was a different emotion that Jason couldn't tell.

Jason went near him and he asked: "Are you all right?" Nico looked at him, and nodded. "And from that second, we knew that Nico di Angelo was the son of Hades," said Percy, which finished his story. "Next!" he yelled and they went away.

After some long hours of touring, Nico had finally gotten into his cabin with Hazel. "You're not telling me something," Hazel said, after some silence. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm alright Hazel, you don't have to worry," Nico replied, but Hazel could see some agony in his eyes. "What's wrong Nico, tell me," she insisted. Nico sighed. "The first story Percy told… It reminded me of bad memories," he told. Not the exact truth, but not a lie either. "Okay," Hazel said, she was clearly relieved. "Just remember, I'm always there for you, okay?" Nico nodded. She stood up. "I have to go," she said. "Date night with Frank." Nico smiled a little bit, he felt happy for her sister. "Okay," he said. "Have fun!"

Hazel left the room, and left Nico all alone with his thoughts and pain.


	4. Day Two: The Morning

**Hey guys! Sorry for it's taking so long for me to write! I promise I'm not giving up on this!**

The next morning, Nico woke up with the clots he wore the day before, and he was on the bottom side of the bunker. _I must have cried myself to sleep,_ he thought. _Hazel must have put this blanket on me._ He got up and saw that Hazel was still sleeping quietly on the top. He smiled a little bit, and he remembered how much he loved his sister. He went to the bathroom. When he stared at his own face in the mirror, he found out that he had red puffy eyes that were showing no emotion, and a pale face. He remembered the old face he used to have, but he immediately brushed his thoughts off and got out of his cabin.

The sun had just started to show itself, so Nico decided to take a walk. He walked without knowing where he was going, and he eventually found himself in the beach. As he walked closer, he realized that someone whom he'd been trying tirelessly was sitting and watching the waves. He wanted to run away, but he managed to control his fear and came closer. The other demigod saw him with his eyes that were matching with the sea, and smiled.

"Hey!" Percy said. "Wanna sit?"

Nico wanted to shadow-travel anywhere farther than him, but he sat anyways.

"Can't sleep either?" Percy asked with a croaked voice. Nico turned to him and saw that he had been crying too. He sighed. He had to ask what had happened. He just had to.

"Have you cried?" he asked automatically. Percy stared at the sea. "Nightmares," he murmured. "They haunt me." Nico nodded. He was feeling bad for him. Percy turned to him. "What about you?" he asked.

"Thoughts," Nico admitted. "They kill me inside." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Sorry to hear that," he said. "Anyways, since you're here, I want to say that I'm sorry."

"Why?" Nico asked with a confusion. "For whatever I did to you that made you this mad," Percy said. Nico wanted to laugh. "I'm not mad at you," he said. "I'm mad at myself."

Percy looked confused. "Why?" he asked. _Because I fell for you,_ Nico wanted to say. "Because I'm like this," he spat. He immediately regretted it. "Like what?" he asked. Nico had a sudden anger at him. He stood up. "It doesn't matter," he said, turning his head.

"Hey," Percy said. He stood up too and patted Nico's shoulder. "I'm just trying to get to know you," he said. "You are not a person I know, Nico. Not anymore." Nico was trying hopelessly not to cry. He brushed off Percy's hand. "I'm not a kind of person you want to know," he'd said right before he turned his head away to hide the tears. "See you later," he said and ran away. _So you run away again,_ he heard Cupid's voice echoing in his head while he bursted into tears. _From your friends, from yourself. _

He never thought that moment would come, but he had no better option. He took a deep breath and knocked the door of Cabin 1.

A very sleepy Jason opened the door. When he saw Nico standing there with tears in his eyes, he got him in. He listened him as he told what had happened. He advised him trying to fit in once again, but the kid still thought it was unnatural and awful to feel like that. Jason didn't know how it felt, but he was pretty sure that love was love. "We trust in you Nico," he said while the younger boy hugged him. "There is nothing wrong about it."

The next morning, they all sat together in the breakfast table and acted like nothing was wrong.


	5. Day Two: The Day

"So," Piper said. "What are we doing today?" Annabeth stared at her plate, and thought abut what they could do that Nico would like to join. "You know, we can always have a bonding time together where we can tell our every dirty secrets," Leo said with laughing. It was obviously a joke, but Nico flinched at the thought. "We can talk about our pasts- before we all came into the both camps," Hazel said. "I hardly know how you guys got here."

"Or we can split and have some guy and girl time," Percy said. "No offense girls, but I just want to cool down a little, and having just guys around and talking about 'guy stuff' will help." Annabeth looked at Piper, who was giggling. Something was up. "All right then," she said. "Split time it is." The guys stood up and walked away, leaving girls alone.

"So…" Hazel started. "What is up girls?" Piper smiled a little, but then her smile faded. "I am worried about Jason," she said. "I went to the toilet last night and then sat around the campfire for a while. I heard pretty loud noises coming from his cabin." She frowned. "If only I knew what was wrong, I could just help him get over with it!" Annabeth was actually sad because she couldn't tell what was going on. She sighed. "I think he is just a little frustrated because he blames himself for what happened to Reyna," she said. Reyna had broken her leg was wounded because Jason couldn't run faster to help her. "He'll get over."

Hazel put her elbows on the table, with her hands around her head. "I think Jason is okay," she said. "But Nico is making me worried. He disappears more often, often comes back with red puffy eyes and a miserable look, and when I ask him 'Are you okay?' he just nods, even though we both know it is a huge lie." A tear dropped from her eye. "I just want to help him, you know, I want to show him that I care and I love. But it seems impossible!" Annabeth put her hands on both of the girls' shoulders. "Okay girls, don't worry too much, I am sure things will be all right with time. Now, too much stress is on the air, how about we sneak up on boys and eavesdrop a little bit?" Piper smiled. Hazel turned her head to Annabeth and nodded quietly. They all stood up. Annabeth saw Will from Apollo cabin.

"Hey Will, did you see Percy?" she asked. "Yeah, he's near Thalia's tree with Jason, Leo and Nico," he said. She thanked and the girls went to there. They stopped from a fair distance, so the boys didn't see them but they could hear the boys if they stayed quiet.

"…Well, I like girls the way I like dandelions," Nico said. "You don't even like dandelions," Percy said, he was laughing. Nico turned to him with a cold look. "Exactly," he said. Jason stopped smiling. That was a great progress for Nico. "So… You're in that age, aren't you dude?" Percy said with a big grin. "Ooh, puberty," Leo added. "The time when we don't like girls, not in front of people." Nico relieved. _What did I just tried to do?_ he thought. "Yeah," he said with a fake chuckle. "Girls are annoying and the only thing they think about is boys!" Jason laughed to back him up. Leo and Percy smiled. They looked at each other, and their smile got a little bit mischievous. "Well, then it is time we give you 'the talk'," Percy said. Nico blushed hard, which was new to him. "I don't really need that, Percy," he said quietly, he turned his dark eyes that were screaming _HELP!_ to Jason. Jason opened his mouth to protest, but Leo began to speak.

"Dude, what happens after this time is hard. You'll fall in love hard with butterflies in your stomach and you will do every single stupid thing for that person, and that contains risking your own life. If the girl likes you back, oh great, have a great life. But if she doesn't, you'll suffer. A lot." Nico looked at him with a sad smile; pain, misery and shame was painted in his eyes.

"Have you ever thought if I already knew, Leo?" he whispered. Leo shifted a little. Percy smiled. "That's great Nico, who is the lucky girl?" he asked. _No boy, you're getting closer to that topic, GO AWAY!_ he thought. He frowned. "Does that matters?" he asked in anger. He made a fist. A bump came to his throat. _Don't cry Nico. You hear me? You're not going to cry. Not in front of everyone. Not in front of _**_him_**_._ He closed his eyes and stood still.

"How can you stand that still? You're a son of Hades, shouldn't you have ADHD too?" Leo asked, his mind had gone off the topic. Nico relieved. That kid was more ADHD than any other living life for in this planet. "I have learned eventually," Nico said. "It was hard, but I learned that you can't always be the ridiculous boy who speaks too much."

"But still," Percy said. "Sometimes we all miss that open-mouthed hyper boy." Nico scowled. "I didn't mean to make you mad," Percy said. Nico's expression softened. He just couldn't stay mad at that boy. He looked down the hill, and saw the girls coming up to them.

"We are bored," the girls said. Hazel took a deep breath. "Nico, can we speak in private for a moment please?" she asked. He nodded and they walked down the hill.

"Nico, you are my brother and I will love and accept you whatever happens," she started. Nico stiffened. _Does she know?_ "I can see something is wrong since Percy came to Camp Jupiter. You look depressed, you look like you are in misery. There is pain in your eyes, and I am worried about you. You disappear and you look like you've cried a lot. Can you please tell me what is wrong? I sure can help."

_She's a child of 40's too, she won't understand how it is like to keep a secret like this, she'll judge me! She'll try to get rid of me, just like Bianca did! _His thoughts made him panic. He could not lose another sister for or because of Percy Jackson. "Look Hazel, I know you want to help but I am afraid you won't get it. I will tell what is up later, but for now, I just need to cope with this on my own. I will keep my promise, I promised Annabeth that I'd try to fit in, and I am sure will be over the problem if I succeed to fit in. Now can we please go back there and have a good time?" Hazel smiled. She didn't know his misery, and Nico was happy that for one time he could actually hide his feelings and be the old little Nico. They called the others and played volleyball until the sun set.

**Sorry that it is late guys, I am just busy! My school starts this Monday. In the last chapter, I shouldn't have written "In the next morning" Sorry about that! I hope you liked this chapter!**


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